The Lightning Rod
by make wark not war
Summary: Kaworu tries to adjust to life as a normal teenager, after the SEELE attack.
1. Hello Ceiling

Two crimson eyes opened. The grey-headed boy blinked confusedly in the sudden light. _Squares, _he mused. _Why am I looking at squares? _His head felt like it'd been stuffed with cotton wool, and his chest hurt.   
  
The air he was breathing was cold. There was something covering his mouth and nose, and it was from this that he breathed, a steady stream of cold oxygen hissing softly.   
  
_Unfamilar ceiling,_ the boy mused. _Hello ceiling. Where am I? _"Where am I?", he said weakly.  
  
Something rustled to his left, and he turned his head. A pair of sad blue eyes looked back at him. "Kaworu, you're awake," the owner of those eyes said, smiling tiredly.   
  
"Shinji," whispered Kaworu. He was glad to see him. "Where...?"  
  
Shinji stood and stretched himself. He'd dozed off, curled up in a ball on a chair to make himself comfortable, and now his body was protesting. Shinji pulled the chair closer to the bed and took Kaworu's hand as he sat down. "You're in Tokyo-2 General Hospital. Dr. Akagi says you're going to be fine."  
  
Kaworu studied Shinji's hand in his own, noting the round scar on its back, and feeling a similar lump on Shinji's palm. Third Impact must have hurt. He was glad to have spared Shinji the worst. "Are you all right, Shinji?"  
  
"Yes, I'm OK." Shinji gave Kaworu's hand a squeeze, and leaned in closer. "We won. We did it, you, me, Asuka, we all did it. We saved the world."  
  
"That's good." Kaworu closed his eyes briefly. He caught Shinji giving a huge yawn as he opened them again. "You must be tired, Shinji. How long have you...?"  
  
Shinji looked away embarrassedly, saying, "Just a few days, Kaworu." A few weeks was the actual time Shinji had been waiting at Kaworu's bedside. Misato had to literally drag him away from time to time to make him eat, and wash up. His normally impeccable school uniform was rumpled.  
  
Kaworu tried to shift himself a little to the side.   
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Making room, Shinji. Or trying to." Kaworu tried shifting a little more, this time with Shinji's help. Shinji moved to the foot of the bed and took the grey-head's feet, moving them to the right.  
  
"Room?" Shinji puzzled, carefully placing Kaworu's legs down, and moved to hook his arms under the other boy's armpits..  
  
"For you." Shinji almost dropped him. "Sleep next to me. Come on," he patted the space next to him on the bed.  
  
"Sleep?"   
  
"I would like you to." Kaworu smiled when Shinji yawned deeply again. "You look look really worn."  
  
He _was_ a bit worn out. _Sleep. On a bed. That would be a very good idea right now.   
  
_Shinji plumped down on Kaworu's left, where he'd made some space, undid his shoes and stowed them neatly under the bed, before climbing in next to Kaworu. There wasn't very much room, so the two boys were rubbing shoulders. Kaworu tilted his head towards Shinji, his soft, unruly grey hair brushing against Shinji's cheek. Instead of shying away, Shinji responded for once, putting his arm around Kaworu's shoulders and pulling him in.   
  
"I love you, Shinji."  
  
"I know," Shinji replied, echoing Kaworu's reply to him that terrible moment almost a month ago. Shinji, remembering, hugged Kaworu even tighter. "I know."

* * *

"No!! Please, don't take him away!!" Shinji cried, struggling against Misato and half a dozen NERV security guards. "What are you going to _do_ to him?"  
  
"Shinji, he's an Angel. One of the enemy. We have to do this." Misato said, trying to reason with a very distraught Third Children.  
  
"Misato, how can you be so _cold_? He... he's practically surrendered to us!! To _me_!! I promised no-one would harm him!!" Shinji, sobbed, collapsing at Misato's feet.   
  
"Shinji, get up, _please_. I have to go and look after things." Misato tried loosening Shinji's clutch around her calves. Finally succeeding, she pulled away, leaving Shinji curled up and sobbing on the floor.   
  
Kaworu did not struggle in his restraints, not even when Misato strode towards him steaming like a battleship. "Will Shinji be all right?" Kaworu was very worried. Shinji was so delicate on the inside, he saw that the first time they'd met.   
  
"Don't worry about _Shinji_, you monster."  
  
"Why are you so angry?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Kaworu!!" Shinji cried out from the distance. "I love you!"  
  
"I know!!" Kaworu turned and replied. "I know!!"

* * *

"Shinji, don't squeeze so tightly." murmured Kaworu in Shinji's arms.  
  
"Oh, s-s-sorry," Shinji spluttered, relaxing his hold somewhat, rubbing Kaworu's shoulders gently. He pulled the blanket over them both, kissed the top of Kaworu's head and settled down to sleep.  
  
(A/N Sorry if it was a rather short. The second part had me tensing up for some reason. Review, or review not. There is no try.)  
  



	2. An Elephant Fly

**Three weeks earlier…**

Kaworu had arrived on the battlefield wearing some sort of body armour. It gave him a little protection from unexpected attacks (a flying piece of debris had conked him during the fight with the thirteen Mass-Production Evas), but he suspected it was partly to keep him under control as well. The harness was a miniature copy of the Evangelion armour.

_I look like a chibi Evangelion, _he mused_._ _How… funky._

Kaworu had fended off the thirteen white Mass-Production Evas long enough for Unit-02 to miraculously come back to life, and for Shinji to arrive. But the Lance of Longinus had taken them all by surprise.

"Mein Gott! I didn't know Unit-01 could fly!" said Asuka. She stared upwards at the rapidly receding Unit-01.

Even Kaworu was impressed. "I've seen a horse fly, and even a house fly, but I never seen an Evangelion fly," he said, hovering around Unit-02's shoulder. Hastily he dodged as Asuka irately swatted at him with a giant hand.

"Idiot! This is no time to quote Disney! Especially _Dumbo!_"

"Sorry! But, um, you know, Shinji-kun's getting away."

Shinji was now high up in the air. Soon Instrumentality would begin.

"Scheisse, Scheisse! How did it do that? There must be some hidden controls in here!"

"If wishes were fishes… Asuka, I could upgrade your Unit-02, but do you trust me? "

"What kind of upgrade are you talking about?"

Kaworu stood on Unit-02's gigantic shoulder and closed his eyes, concentrating.

"Mein Gott! It's got wings!"

Seven gigantic shimmering wings of light had sprouted from the Eva's back.

Kaworu smiled, and cheekily said, "Now you can see an elephant fly."

"Shut up, I'm trying to fly here." Asuka experimentally tried flapping the wings. One take-off attempt ended up with her flat on her face. "Why the hell did you to give me so many wings?! Couldn't you just give me two?"

"God is odd, and He loves the odd."

"Scheisse! Two wings are hard enough, but seven?!"

"That seems to be the default wing number for your Eva. Shinji's Eva has four. What can I say? Evas are really strange." _Not to mention unnatural,_ he thought.

Asuka bit her lip. She knew there was one possible solution. Haste was needed but she did not like anyone else taking control of her Eva. Then she felt the strange motherly presence again in the Evangelion, soothing her anger and telling her to put her mistrust away. "I don't have time for flying lessons! We're running out of time here! Take us up angel boy!"

"Me? Take control? Are you sure?"

"Hurry up!"

The wings beat majestically in harmony, stirring up a torrent of dust on the field, and they began to ascend, faster and faster, pursuing Shinji's Unit 01 before all was lost. _Hang on Shinji, _both of them thought. _We're coming._

Asuka didn't know what they would do when they caught up. Kaworu, on the other hand, had an inkling of what he was supposed to do.

When they arrived, Unit-01 was splayed out on a cross, its hands pierced. They could hear Shinji's screams over the communications channel. Both of them knew that Shinji was suffering actual physical pain. Kaworu knew that the boy was beginning to have visions and hallucinations as well. The thought made him wince. He knew what he would have to do.

It would drain him of all his power, but with Asuka's Unit-02, he would wrest away control of Instrumentality and safely abort it. Fuyutsuki had not specified any plan, saying only that as the Angel of Free Will, he would choose.

Kaworu understood now. He was the lightning rod.

* * *

"How are you doing Kaworu-kun?" the second in command, Kouzou Fuyutsuki had asked. Fuyutsuki decided to call the boy by his human name, as it seemed his actions were more human than celestial. "I hope you weren't too uncomfortable the last few nights."

"It wasn't too bad." He hadn't really minded the actual state of the accommodations, or how he had been processed right after his surrender. He had been more distressed because for some reason, the detention cell smelled like… Shinji. That could only mean that Shinji himself had once been locked away in that very cell, long enough for his scent to permeate the room.

The thought of Shinji being treated like a criminal outraged him. _How could they do that to him? _Kaworu had wept quietly the first night. He swore not to abandon him ever.

"What are your orders for me?" the albino boy asked.

Fuyutsuki smiled. "No specific orders as such. Shall we just say, that you'll be released when the time is right."

"No orders?"

"You are Tabris, the Angel of Free Will, are you not?"

"Yes?" Kaworu wondered what he was getting at.

"Then I am sure you will do the right thing Kaworu-kun. I am so tired of everything being on a tightrope."


End file.
